Superhero comics are filled with revenge. Revenge for traumatic childhoods. Revenge for past transgressions. Revenge for schemes gone wrong, for backstabbing, for constant attempted murder. But few, if any, superhero stories depict revenge as well as Oldboy, Park Chan-wook's masterful adaptation of the titular manga which sits at the center of his "vengeance trilogy" and stands as one of the darkest, most haunting explorations of man's desire for payback in the history of film.

Oldboy's potency comes from the way it establishes Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik) as a figure who isn't motivated by revenge but consumed by it; that's at first understandable, since he's been locked away for fifteen years with little else to sustain him but the notion that he will one day get vengeance on whoever confined him. Most people in such a situation would be similarly thirsty for vengeance and the story easily could have been structured as your typical "man hunts down all who wronged him" story, with the requisite action pieces and snappy one liners. But instead, Park Chan-wook depicts the emotional and physical toll hatred can take on a person and how the blindness that results can radically alter one's perception of the past.

Park Chan-wook succeeds because he is unafraid to show the ugliness of Oh Dae-su and the despicable actions that aren't so easily excused as mere payback, ultimately resulting in a macabre collision of parallel revenge plots as Oh Dae-su's tormentor reveals his own revenge plans. In the world of superheroes, revenge typically falls along black and white lines, with right and wrong reasons for vengeance unfolding as needed for the story. But in Oldboy, as in life, revenge is much more complicated, with no clear solution and end results that aren't anywhere near satisfactory for anyone. Oldboy's final twists show the truth of that old adage that when you set out for revenge, you should first dig two graves, but in this particular case, only one of those graves is for a person while the other is for an entire past, one that has been killed in favor of a fresh status quo that hides the ugliest of truths. It's devastating and sickening and nothing could be more fitting.

For the first time in a history that stretches back nearly forty years, the mysterious Russian radio signal popularly known as UVB-76 had issued an order. On the 24th of January 2013, it was heard clearly by its legion of fans:

Command 135 initiated

The radio signal that occupies 4625 kHz has reportedly been broadcasting since the late 1970s. The earliest known recording of it is dated 1982. Ever since curious owners of shortwave radios first discovered the signal, it has broadcast a repeating buzzing noise. Every few years, the buzzer stops, and a Russian voice reads a mixture of numbers and Russian names.

Instead of shutting down with the fall of communism in Russia, UVB-76 became even more active. Since the millenium, voice messages have become more and more frequent.

It’s easy to dismiss the signal as pre-recorded, or a looping tone. But what listeners quickly realised was that UVB-76 is not a recording. The buzzer noise is generated manually. The reason for overhearing telephone conversations and banging noises is that a speaker creating the buzzer is constantly placed next to the microphone, giving the world an eerie insight into whatever cavern the signal originates from.

The modern popularity of UVB-76 can be traced to /x/, 4chan’s non-archiving message board devoted to discussion of paranormal activity and unexplained mysteries. Just as 4chan created memes like Pedobear and Rickrolling, the online image board served to bring UVB-76 before the eyes of a host of internet users.

Online chatter about the signal increased in 2010, as bizarre broadcasts were issued on an almost monthly basis. Snippets of Swan Lake were played, a female voiced counted from one to nine, a question mark was transmitted in Morse code and strange telephone conversations were overheard by the receiver.

The short recording of Swan Lake that was broadcast by the signal in 2010.

Since October 2010, the station has changed location. The flurry of activity and voice messages preceded the most important development in the signal since it began broadcasting in the 1970s. It seems likely that the heightened activity of 2010 was related to the establishment of the signal in a new location. The new call sign was read out after the move: “MDZhB”.

Previous triangulation efforts had led to the discovery of the transmitter for UVB-76: a Russian military base on the outskirts of Povarovo, a small town nineteen miles from Moscow.

After the station changed location, two groups of urban explorers and UVB-76 followers travelled to the remote Russian town in an attempt to visit the military bunker that the signal had originated from for over thirty years. When they reached the town, a local man told them about the storm of 2010. One night a dense fog rolled in, and the military outpost was evacuated within ninety minutes.

THE RUSSIAN MILITARY OUTPOST THAT UVB-76 OPERATED FROM UNTIL 2010. IMAGE BY ’BYDUNAIKA’

After making their way across the site and avoiding the guard dog stationed outside, the groups found the bunker and military buildings in a state of abandonment.

THE GUARD DOG STATIONED OUTSIDE THE POVAROVO MILITARY COMPOUND. IMAGE BY ‘DESERT_FOX’

Possessions and equipment were strewn across the base. Icy water had filled the bunker, yet clues were still to be found inside.

One group described the Povarov military bunker as “a quiet and lonely dark place, something like a maze with lots of corridors and rooms”.

A book was found that contained a log of messages sent by UVB-76. The ethereal signal that had fascinated the world for years now had a physical presence, along with confirmation that it had been run by the Russian military.

THE UVB-76 LOGBOOK DISCOVERED BY‘BYDUNAIKA’

The mystery continues to this day. Sporadic voice messages are still emitted. Legions of listeners tune in via radios and online streams every day. A file can be downloaded at this link that allows followers to listen to UVB-76 in iTunes.

Along with a renewed interest in studying and archiving the broadcasts of UVB-76, multiple triangulation attempts have been made to try and ascertain the new location of the signal. Unlike before, it seems that UVB-76 is emanating from multiple transmitters across Russia. Triangulation has given rise to three possible locations.

The small Russian village of Kirsino has a registered populace of just 39 people. One signal can be traced here.

KIRSINO, THE REMOTE RUSSIAN VILLAGE THAT MAY HOLD CLUES TO THE MEANING OF UVB-76. IMAGE FROM THE OFFICIAL KIRSINO WESBITE.

Near to the Estonian border lies the Pskov Oblast. This is currently the most likely source of UVB-76 due to the multiple triangulation attempts that lead here.

A new theory has been the cause of much discussion amongst the followers of UVB-76. Could the signal be related to the Russian Government radio channel Voice Of Russia? One location that appears during triangulation attempts is very close to a transmitter array southeast of Kolpino that is reportedly used by the Russian government to transmit state radio across Russia.

As UVB-76 settled into the new location, Dance of The Little Swans from Swan Lake was played. Instrumental passages from Swan Lake are a favourite of Voice Of Russia.

The radio array that offers an intriguing link between UVB-76 and the Russian government

While internet followers have discovered the location of the old signal, the purpose of UVB-76 remains a mystery. As with any unexplained mystery, conspiracy theories abound, some more credible than others.

The closest thing to an official explanation for the signal’s purpose comes froman academic paper published by the Borok Geophysical Observatory. This is state-funded organisation that describes itself as a “branch of the Federal state budgetary institution of science”. They explain that the signal originates from an observatory using the 4625 kHz frequency to measure changes in the ionosphere.

This does not explain the military bunker, or the voice messages. Nor does the paper detail how successful such research would be. A signal on the 4625 kHz frequency would have suffered from extreme interference, rendering it nearly unusable for researching the ionosphere.

The fan-favourite conspiracy is that UVB-76 is the audible version of Russia’s “Dead Man Switch” system. In the case of a nuclear strike that cripples Russian military command, the automated system will launch a counter-strike. While it’s likely that Russia does possess such a system, it’s fanciful to think that this humble buzzing sound is the noise of our impending nuclear apocalypse.

The most credible explanation of UVB-76’s purpose is that it is a military communication system operating across western Russia. The coded messages are announcements for various military districts, enabling a simple means of communicating with multiple units at the same time. As for the repeating buzzing noise, this is thought to be a channel marker that exists to discourage others from using the same frequency.

An image posted on the Russian Wikipedia seems to confirm the military communication theory. A small framed piece of paper in an administration and enlistment office of the Russian army refers to 4625 kHz, the broadcasting frequency of UVB-76. With this so prominently displayed, it’s possible to confirm that the signal is not a “Dead Man’s Switch”, nor is the signal intended to be a secret.

The internet has, for decades, been listening to the internal communication network of the western division of the Russian armed forces.

CAPTION: A SIGN IN A RUSSIAN MILITARY ENLISTMENT OFFICE THAT REFERENCES THE 4625 KHZ FREQUENCY USED BY UVB-76. IMAGE FROM WIKIPEDIA USERORLANDO AVARE

While the mystery of UVB-76 may have been solved, its legion of followers and obsessives will continue to listen. Thousands of people across the world tune into the signal, hoping to catch one of the ethereal voice messages.

For those in the know, it’s a bemusing social phenomenon. But for the residents of 4chan’s /x/ board and the radio scanner fans, UVB-76 is far more than a communications network. For them, it’s a sign of the forthcoming apocalypse, it’s an international spy network, it’s a secret Russian space experiment.

Whether you believe the theories or not, there’s no denying the thrill that comes with hearing the distorted voice messages of UVB-76.

One of Tardi's most popular works and his first to span multiple albums, it has been reprinted in English and other translations and is being adapted as a big-budget film trilogy.The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec (French: Les Aventures extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec) is a historical fantasy comic book series first appearing in 1976 written and illustrated by French comics artist Jacques Tardi and published in albumformat by Belgian publisher Casterman, sometimes preceded by serialisation in various periodicals, intermittently since then. The comic portrays the titular far-fetched adventures and mystery-solving of its eponymous heroine, herself a writer of popular fiction, in asecret history-infused, gaslamp fantasy version of the early 20th century, set primarily in Paris and prominently incorporating real-lifelocations and events. Initially a light-hearted parody of such fiction of the period, it takes on a darker tone as it moves into the post–World War I years and the 1920s.

History

Adèle Blanc-Sec takes place in the same fictional universe as three earlier Tardi comics: Adieu Brindavoine ("Farewell Brindavoine"), serialised in 1972 in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine Pilote #680–700, its direct sequel La Fleur au fusil ("The Flower in the Rifle"), a ten-page one-shot first published in 1974 in Pilote No. 743 and included in albums of the former, and the 1974 original graphic novel The Arctic Marauder (Le Démon des glaces, "The Demon of the Ice"). It is, however, the more technology-focused, what might now be called steampunk, Arctic Marauder that takes place first in the fictional continuity, being set in the 1890s,[3] with Lucien Brindavoine's adventures, considered a less refined, early prototype for Adèle's,[6] occurring during the World War I hiatus in Adèle's story line.

Adèle itself came about as a consequence of a commission from Casterman for a multi-album series, something Tardi had not been particularly interested in pursuing of his own accord at the time but took them up on the offer. A survey of popular series demonstrated an abundance of strong male protagonists but women in the lead role represented only by, on the one hand, the ingenuous Bécassineand, on the other, the primarily sexual Barbarella; thus, he sought to differentiate his series by centring it on a heroine every bit the equal of these other comics' heroes. Contradictorily, however, and in particular contrast to Forest's Barbarella, he was also to set the series in the 1910s of Maurice Leblanc's Arsène Lupin, when her independence would be even more extraordinary. And so he created… Edith Rabatjoie and, subsequently, Adèle Blanc-Sec (her family name coming from wine terminology, meaning "dry white") as an adversary for her. But upon the originally villainous Blanc-Sec coming into the comic he found he enjoyed drawing her far more than Rabatjoie and so she became the protagonist and title character, while ever since retaining something of a Lupin-esque moral dubiousness and disregard for the law. Her green coat, as well as complementing her red hair, is in ironic reference to the green dress of Bécassine, whom she is partly conceived as an antitheses of.[7] The comic first appeared in the daily newspaper Sud-Ouest in 1976.

The adventures, set in Paris in the years before and after World War I, revolve around the protagonist Adèle Blanc-Sec. A cynical heroine, she is initially a novelist of popular fiction, who turns to investigative journalism as her research and subsequent adventures reveal further details of the mystical world of crime. Themes of the occult, corruption, official incompetence, and the dangers of patriotism suffuse the series.

One interesting feature is the hiatus which separates Adèle's first exploits, taking place in 1910s Paris, from later ones, instead set in the interwar milieu. The separation is explained with her having been cryogenically hibernated following a grave injury. The expedient was deemed necessary by Tardi to avoid her entanglement in World War I. In an interview he declared: "Her feisty nature made it impossible to provide her with a place in the war. She would not have been allowed to fight, and could no more have settled for being a nurse, than she could have remained home rolling bandages."

Albums

As of June 2011, nine of a projected ten albums have been published in French and two different English translations have been published, the first covering only the first five and the latter currently ongoing, with the aim of releasing all ten in omnibus editions of twoalbums each.

Translation

Adèle and the Beast (June 1990, ISBN 0-918348-85-4)

The Demon of the Eiffel Tower (1990, ISBN 1-56163-001-2)

The Mad Scientist and Mummies on Parade (1996, ISBN 1-56163-156-6)

The Secret of the Salamander (1992)

Fantagraphics Books have signed a deal with Tardi to translate and release his work and series editor and translator Kim Thompson has said that the Adèle Blanc-Sec books will be translated but it is not his highest priority:

“

First, I wanted to start out with something fresh and previously unseen in the U.S. (which is why I put [It Was the] War of the Trenches third instead of first), and the first couple of Adele books have been published here. You can still find them on Amazon. Second, there is what I call the popularity paradox, which is that sometimes the most popular French work is the hardest to sell as compared to the "art" comics because the more mainstream work loses some of its "alternative" audience without replacing it with a "mainstream" audience. So Adele, with its playful Euro adventure tropes, is in some ways less accessible to American readers than, say,Trenches. […] That said, Adele is on my long-term list, but I've got at least three or four more books beyond the first three I'd like to do first.

The Secret of the Salamander and The Two-headed Dwarf (96 pages, hardcover, TBP 2014)

Adaptations into other media

The popularity of the comic has made it much in demand for adaptation into other media, the first to be approved by Tardi being a projected trilogy of live-action feature films adapted and directed by Luc Besson, the first of which, also titled The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec was released in France on 14 April 2010 and latterly in numerous other markets, including the United Kingdom.

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec (French: Les Aventures extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec), released as Adèle: Rise of the Mummy in Malaysia and Singapore,[6] is a 2010 French fantasy adventure feature film written and directed by Luc Besson. It is loosely based on the comic book series of the same name by Jacques Tardi and, as in the comic, follows the eponymous writer and a number of recurring side characters in a succession of far-fetched incidents in 1910s Paris and beyond, in this episode revolving around parapsychology and ultra-advanced Ancient Egyptian technology, which both pastiche and subvert adventure and speculative fiction of the period. The primarily live-action film, shot in Super 35,[10] incorporates much use of computer animation to portray its fanciful elements and contemporary action film special andvisual effects within the form of the older-style adventure films they have largely superseded.

Plot

The film incorporates characters and events from several of the albums, in particular the first, "Adèle and the Beast," first published in 1976, and the fourth, 1978's "Mummies on Parade," within an overall plot of Besson's construction and takes place primarily in Paris, France, circa 1912.[2] While experimenting with the telepathic techniques he has been researching, Professor Espérandieu hatches a 136 million year-old pterosaur egg within the Galerie de paléontologie et d'anatomie comparée, resulting in the death of a former prefect (scandalously sharing a taxicab with a Moulin rouge showgirl) which though witnessed only by the then-drunk Choupard sparks an epidemic of claimed sightings of the creature. The President of France orders the case be considered of utmost urgency by the National Police, only for it to be handed down to the bumbling Inspector Léonce Caponi.

Adèle Blanc-Sec, a journalist and travel writer of some fame, finds herself involved after returning from Egypt, where she was searching for Ramesses II's mummified doctor. She wants to revive the mummy with the help of Espérandieu so the doctor can save her sister Agathe, who is comatose following an unfortunate tennis incident involving a hatpin. After a brief struggle with her arch nemesis, the mysterious Professor Dieuleveult, she retrieves the mummy and returns home. Her mission is complicated further by Esperandieu being on death row, having been blamed for the pterosaur's attacks in lieu of Inspector Caponi and celebrity big game hunter Justin de Saint-Hubert having any success in taking down the beast itself.

The mummy ends up being the Pharaoh's Nuclear physicist ("I'm a nuclear physicist. I deal in figures, signs and equations.") and is unable to help her sister medically. He does, however, accompany Adèle to the Musée du Louvre, where they revive the rest of the Pharaoh's mummified court on display there, including the Pharaoh himself. The Pharaoh's doctor uses their advanced medical techniques to revive Agathe. The Pharaoh then decides he wants to see Paris, so the entire court wanders out into the night, scaring the ever-hapless Choupard yet again.

Adèle decides she needs a vacation to relax. The final scene shows her boarding a ship, only to be annoyed by some boisterous children. Professor Dieuleveult appears, as the viewpoint pulls back the name of the ship is revealed, the RMSTitanic.

Science fiction book publishers sail the multiverse like a fleet of unstoppable hyper-cruisers. And many of us dream of being beamed up to one of these motherships. But at the same time, a lot of people don't understand how the system works. Here are the seven most common mistaken ideas about science fiction book publishers.

Even in the days of self-publishing success, a lot of us still dream of a contract with one of the big publishers — but people also have a lot of weird ideas about the system. We asked some top editors in science fiction, and they told us the biggest misconceptions people have about the science fiction book field.

1) Publishers are trying to keep ebooks from being sold internationally

People often mistakenly believe that a particular ebook isn't for sale in a particular country "because the publisher can’t be bothered," says Anne Sowards with Ace and Roc Books. In fact, there could be all sorts of reasons why a book isn't available in a particular country, including contractual issues and legal restrictions.

2) When you've published a book, you're immediately a famous author

Often it seems as though people believe that "as soon as you've had a book published you've made it somehow," says Jonathan Oliver with Solaris Publishing. In reality, "it can take a long time to build up a profile as a writer and, unless you're immensely lucky, your first published novel isn't immediately going to shoot you into stardom and untold wealth. You don't just write a book and rest on your laurels. You build up a reputation one book at a time."

Ginjer Buchanan with Ace and Roc, adds that most readers might have a somewhat "off-base notion of what 'the writer's life' is like, in terms of finances, etc." She says, "I've always been fond of [Michael] Chabon's Wonder Boys — not his most successful book because readers don't much care about writers writing about writing, but a pretty accurate picture of the ups and downs of writing that second book — often the hardest thing an author has to do!"

SEXPAND

Image by Stefan Martiniere.

3) Editors just read manuscripts all day, in a nice armchair.

Says Diana Gill with Harper Voyager:

Surprisingly, people still believe that editors (and probably agents) just sit and read all day, when the editing and submission reading is homework, aka nights and weekends. They definitely don't realize how much editors handle in the office, and how we stretch across all of the departments.

Adds Jennifer Heddle with Lucasfilm/LucasBooks:

For me the biggest misconception is that editors sit around reading all day, imperiously waving our hands and deciding who gets to be the next Terry Goodkind and who doesn't. That sounds like a great life, but it sure isn't one I've ever experienced! I think aspiring writers often lose sight of the fact that publishing is a cold hard business like any other, and many decisions have to be made for monetary reasons, whether those of us who work in publishing like it or not. It's never personal.

Speaking of which...

4) This is all personal

Among authors, the most prevalent misconception is that "there are sure-fire shortcuts to be had," says Buchanan. People believe "knowing somebody or attending certain writer's conferences or having a particular agent might help to bring a writer to an editor's attention. But what will seal the deal is said writer's grasp of both the art and craft of writing."

Gill says she sometimes gets annoyed at how many people believe that "editors and publishers are actively, malicious trying to keep people out or destroy their careers, when our careers depend on authors and titles be successful."

Cover art to By Heresy Distressed by David Weber.

5) Science fiction isn't actually about human topics.

Says Lou Anders with Pyr Books:

Those outside the field constantly perpetuate the myth that science fiction stories aren't about people and humanity. I am sick to death of having people explain to me that their own book, film, television show etc.. isn't actually science fiction because it is "a story about people that uses science fiction as a way to explore some aspect of the human condition." The rest of us apparently just publish technical manuals for made up devices.

Adds Anders, the biggest misconception "inside the field" is "the size of the readership," namely "that it's much larger than it is."

6) Men are in charge of science fiction publishing.

One of the biggest misconceptions is that "science fiction publishing is run by men," says Anne Sowards with Ace and Roc. In fact, despite the ongoing debates over gender in science fiction, a ton of editors and other publishing professionals are women. And there's also a pervasive belief that the door is closed to women authors in science fiction as opposed to urban fantasy, which a few editors said just isn't true.

Says Lee Harris with Angry Robot Books, this is "so very, very untrue." He adds:

It's true that there is generally less money to spend on marketing than there used to be, and it's certainly true that publishers ask their authors to get involved in the marketing side of things more than, say, 20 years ago (although no respectable publisher will ever ask the author to spend their own money on this, only time). But there is money spent. How does your publisher spend their marketing funds? Well, let's look at some of the top ones (though there are many, many more).

1) Cover art. One of the most effective ways of marketing your book is with good cover art. Good designers and good artists cost money. This is one of the most important marketing spends (though not necessarily the highest).

2) Trade advertising. What it says. This is how your publisher advertises your book to the people who will stock it in their stores. This comes in the form of advertisements in trade journals, TI sheets (Title Information), samples, catalogues, etc. You don't see any of this because it isn't aimed at the general public. Nevertheless, it happens.

3) Trade events. Another way to reach the fine folk who decide what books sit on their shelves. Also useful for marketing your book to foreign publishers and film studios.

4) Advance Reader Copies (ARCs). Whether physical or electronic. An electronic ARC service (such as NetGalley) costs marketing dollars. And you don't want to know how much it costs to produce and distribute physical ARCs (well, you might want to know - it's usually about 10-15 times the cost of printing a single typical mass market paperback).

5) Getting your book on shelves. Yes, some stores charge to merely stock their books (in addition to the discount they receive), and having your books readily available in bookstores is a good thing...

6) Getting your book into Top 100 / Top 50 shelves. Not as common as it once was, but some stores charge to have your book in their chart. The more you pay, the higher up the chart you debut.

7) Other store promotions. Being featured on end-displays, tables, spinner-racks, etc. Your publisher pays for this.

8) Consumer advertising. Magazine advertising, websites, etc.

9) Consumer events. Conventions, festivals, etc. It costs to attend, and to have a presence in Dealer Rooms, etc.

Some of these are things you might not have previously considered as having a marketing spend (such as your book being featured on a table in your local bookstore), and some of these you will never see (as they're aimed at store book buyers), but there are a lot of ways in which your publisher will market your book - and most of them cost money.

Quantum teleportation has taken a great leap forward but without moving through space, so it's less of a leap and more of a, well, teleportation, for lack of a better word.

Quantum research defies easy language. How do you describe jumping from one spot to another without passing through the space between? Quantum theory works outside of space. In the subatomic realm, all the usual metaphors for progress – a "step," a "leap," a "milestone," a "higher level" – have run off to hide in the box with Schrodinger's cat.

Here's the crux of the matter: While most of physics has to follow the same rules – planets and apples are subject to the same laws of motion – all of those rules fall away when you get down to the subatomic level. For instance, these vanishingly small particles can become "entangled." When two particles are entangled, then whatever you do to one particle instantaneously affects its entangled twin, regardless of the distance between them. Whether they're only a millimeter apart or separated by an entire galaxy, if you alter one, its twin feels it.

Recently, researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETHZ) used entanglement to teleport information across a quarter inch. That sounds easy. After all, the internet sends information thousands of miles in fractions of a second. But this time, the information wasn't carried through the intervening space.

"In telecommunications, information is transmitted by electromagnetic pulses. In mobile communications, for example, microwave pulses are used, while in fibre connections it is optical pulses," explained Andreas Wallraff, professor of physics at ETHZ and head of the study, in a press release.

Quantum teleportation, on the other hand, skips the information carrier – the pulse – and sends only pure information, from one entangled particle to another. Once the particles are entangled, giving information to one means the other instantaneously knows it, too.

It's "comparable to 'beaming' as shown in the science fiction series 'Star Trek,' " said Dr. Wallraff. "The information does not travel from point A to point B. Instead, it appears at point B and disappears at point A, when read out at point B."

Teleporting information from one entangled particle to another is, however, a completely different concept from teleporting inanimate physical objects, much less living human beings.

Theoretically, what works at a distance of a quarter-inch should also work over much longer distances. Indeed, other quantum experiments have already demonstrated long-distance teleportation. Last year, Austrian scientists managed to teleport a photon almost 90 miles between the Canary Islands of La Palma and Tenerife. The difference is that they used visible light in an optical system for teleportation, while the ETHZ team teleported information for the first time in a system that consists of electronic circuits.

"This is interesting, because such circuits are an important element for the construction of future quantum computers," said Wallraff.

Quantum computers are still only theoretical, but if engineering catches up with theory, then they could process enormously large datasets with blinding speed. This could make extraordinary things possible – even time travel, at least according to one hypothesis.

Based on their latest experiment, the ETHZ scientists calculated that they could send approximately 10,000 quantum bits per second, which is much faster than most previous teleportation systems. (A quantum bit is a unit of quantum information.)

From here, the ETHZ team wants to increase the distance between their entangled particles. This time they sent a signal across a superconducting circuit, which is like a computer chip. The next step will be sending information from one chip to another, and ultimately, from one quantum processor to another, across great physical distances.

Right to Know by Edward Willett, the Aurora-winning author of over fifty books, is a fast-paced space opera about first contact -- with a difference. When Art Stoddard, civilian information officer of the generation ship, Mayflower II, is kidnapped by secret military organization determined to overthrow the power of Captain and crew, he becomes embroiled in a conflict that tests everything he thought he knew. Now, he is forced to choose between preserving social order and restoring the people’s right to know. But what if knowledge is the most dangerous thing of all?

When Art is ripped from the safety of his ship by the mysterious residents of Peregrine, his problems only escalate. He becomes a pawn in a game that will determine the fate of both ship and planet. As he and his new found friends rush to save both, he faces questions of courage, loyalty and moral responsibility.

"An inspiring tale of redemption and courage, set in an all too plausible future in space. Well done!" Julie Czerneda, author of The Clan Chronicles

Right to Know is 70,000 words long and suitable for mature audiences of 16 or older. Edward Willett is an American-born Canadian who lives in Regina. He has had a number of science fiction and fantasy novels published by DAW books.

The pair are the latest in a long line of patterns to have appeared in the south-west of England this summer. Two crop circles that have sprung up in the rolling British countryside just 15 miles apart have been described as the "most elaborate" this year . The pair are the latest in a long line of patterns to have appeared in farmer's fields in the south-west of England this summer. The area is widely regarded as a hotbed for crop circles - with the most recent offerings appearing just days apart. One spotted in Monument Hill, near Devizes, Wilts, shows a cube encased in a circle surrounded by a decorated ring. It is believed to measure around 390 feet in diameter and is first thought to have appeared on August 6. And just five days later, locals noticed a second, slightly smaller crop circle measuring 60 feet in diameter in a wheat field up the road in Hackpen Hill. This one depicts a large ring of flattened crops with raised cushion like pattern in the middle. Aerial images showing the two formations were captured by Lucy Pringle, from Petersfield, Hants, who is a aerial photographer, researcher and world-wide lecturer on the phenomenon. Lucy said: "The season started very late this year due to the cold winter and spring. "Suddenly it is all happening just as most overseas visitors have left our shores. Both these circles are the largest and most elaborate so far this summer and contain interesting geometry.